The Insanity Bug
by NomSujet
Summary: AU-In this small town with barely two hundred people, a thinly veiled war is raging on. Friend turns against friend. Enemies become allies, only to backstab each other in the end. Amidst all the insanity, however, is a handful of people who want to stop it. Lovino Vargas is one of them. But don't forget, the puppeteer is always watching...


Feliciano Vargas never questioned why his grandfather came home from work covered in bruises and scrapes practically every other day. Being the carefree, naïve person he was, he simply brushed it off.

His twin brother, on the other hand, was a lot more perceptive. He just didn't have the guts to ask-I mean; he was waiting for the right opportunity. Yeah, totally.

And one day, the chance came.

It was a cool summer evening in the middle of August, when the three young men in the house heard the door click open and shut.

"Ve~! Grandpa! Welcome home!" Feliciano skipped to the front hallway and enveloped his grandfather into an affectionate hug. "Dinner's on the table, we've been waiting for you!"

"Oh really? Ha ha, thanks, Feli." Romulus Vargas patted his grandson on the head. "I'm just gonna go get washed up."

"Ok!" And with that, Feliciano went up the stairs to tell his younger brother it was time for dinner.

In the living room, Lovino sat back down on the couch, frowning deeply. He hadn't missed the small flinch his grandfather exhibited when his brother had hugged him. The older of the twins knew his Grandpa was still strong despite his age, and that something like that shouldn't hurt him in the least. _Something must have happened to the old man, _he thought.

But apart from the occasional worried glance at him across the dinner table, Lovino did nothing. Yet.

And of course he wasn't gathering up the courage to ask him, what kind of silly theory is that?

That night, when both his brothers were asleep, he slowly wrenched out of Feliciano's grasp, slipped out of bed, put on some clothes, and tiptoed his way down the hall, to his grandfather's room.

Standing before the door, he took a deep breath, grabbed the doorknob, and all but threw open the door.

Only to find that no one was there.

Swearing profusely under his breath, he closed the door. Suddenly, out the corner of his eye, he noticed a small strip of light coming from the bathroom on the opposite end of the hall. Quickly making his way over, he pushed the door open a little bit, and peered through the crack.

There sat his grandfather, half naked, and with his back covered in dried blood. Lovino resisted a gasp, and stepped away from the door. Taking another look, he saw a long jagged cut across his grandpa's back that seemed fairly recent.

Biting down on his bottom lip, he silently walked back to his room, his courage gone.

* * *

"…You know I'm sorry to do this to you, right, Romulus?" Yao Wang asked sadly. "I know you have children of your own."

Romulus looked up from the cracked concrete to the Asian. He chuckled softly. "Yeah, I know. I remember meeting you all those years ago, when we picked up our kids from daycare." Yao's eyes softened, quietly reminiscing about those peaceful days.

"Too bad we can't just sit down and have a drink together like we used to, right?" Yao half-heartedly joked. "After all…he's always watching…always." The Chinese man gripped the handle of the wok tighter. Romulus raised an eyebrow at the cooking utensil Yao carried.

"You're still using that thing? I know you love it and all, but…" He paused, appearing to be thinking. "This is a battlefield, Yao." As if to prove his point, he shifted his weight onto his other leg, the tip of his spear glinting in the sunset.

"I know," Yao whispered, and he charged forward. The sound of metal clanking against metal resonated throughout the dingy alley.

But of course, all the people around were either unconscious or too intoxicated to care.

Except for one brown haired, wide-eyed, and generally terrified young man.

"Accidenti," he swore in his native language. "What the fuck has the old man gotten himself into?"

A few minutes later, Lovino saw his grandfather shove the blunt end of his spear (one that looked suspiciously similar to the one in the attic, which Romulus had declared a family heirloom, and warned the boys not to touch it) into Uncle Yao's stomach. The Asian stumbled back and fell, clutching his stomach, and struggling to get back up.

"_Hey Uncle Yo," a five-year old Lovino asked. "What is that?"_

"_It's Yao, Lovino." The man replied, smiling. "And that is a meat bun. Do you want to try one?" At that, Lovino stuck out his tongue exaggeratedly. _

"_Eh, no thanks," he said. Yao's smile stretched out further, his eyes twinkling in amusement. _

"_I put tomatoes in it, just for you." He said in a sing-song voice. "Although I'm not sure what it tastes like. I don't usually put many vegetables into a meat bun."_

_Lovino's eyes widened, and he grabbed the meat bun from Yao's hand. "Anything with tomatoes is good. Bow down to the godly taste of toma…" he drifted off, embarrassed. Lovino then opted to just bite into the bun. _

"_Oh, you're so cute, Lovino." Yao laughed and tousled his hair, careful not to touch his one protruding curl. _

Lovino tightened his fists. Why was Grandpa Rome doing this? Weren't he and Yao friends? He and his brothers even had a bet going on about whether their grandfather was going to get together with Yao or Helmut first! (Helmut was their Germanic family friend).

He looked back to the 'battlefield'. Yao had burst into tears, while Romulus stood above him, his spear pointed at his friend. Lovino found it hard to swallow. The only other time he had seen Yao cry was when Kiku had moved out of the house in cold blood. It scared Lovino.

"Dammit! Why…why us!" Yao sobbed. Romulus bit his lip. He knew it was unfair; he himself had shed a few tears thinking about the consequences of the twisted game. He lifted the spear-

-and threw it with deadly accuracy into a shadowy corner of the alley. Romulus then quickly knelt down in front of Yao and brought his arms around him in a comforting hug. He then started patting the Asian's hair in order to calm him down.

"I know, il mon amico, I know. But we…just have to bear it. Until our children can live on their own, without us to take care of them. Until we find a way to stop that monster."

Yao nodded weakly. Romulus patted his head one last time, and then gently grabbed his hand to help him stand. The Italian retrieved his spear, and walked away.

At the sound of his grandfather's footsteps coming his way, Lovino then wisely decided to book it to his friend's house.

* * *

Yao rubbed his stomach, wiped away his tears, and bent down to pick up his trusty wok. He walked over to the remaining pieces of the hidden camera Romulus had shattered. Scooping them up and putting them into his pockets, he shuddered at the thought of want _he _might do to Romulus. Breaking one of _his _cameras was equal to ten days of pain.

The Chinese man steeled his courage. He would have to talk to _him, _try and persuade _him _to at least keep his hands off of Romulus's grandchildren. It was the least he could do after Romulus comforted him in his moment of weakness.

Ah, but first, the children needed to be fed.

So Yao staggered home, and with each step he took, he knew he was getting closer to his sanctuary. A place with cute stuffed animals, and even cuter children.

"Wuo huai lai la, hai zi men!" _I'm home, children, _he called out in Chinese. Suddenly, practically all of the children at his orphanage swarmed him at once. He knelt down to meet them at eye level, and his motherly instincts immediately took over. "Aiyah, Zhi Bo, go put on some socks, you'll catch a cold! Oh, Qing Jing, I'll read you a story later, ok? Ah, Gan Da, I know you're hungry, but be patient please!"

Yao ran an orphanage especially for Asian children. There weren't many orphans in this small town in which he resided, but there were plenty in China. So he rescued them from the slave factories and demanding, unloving families, and brought them here.

"Welcome home, ge ge," Yao instantly recognized the calm, mature voice.

"Xiang Gang! I didn't know you were home from school already!"

"Class let out early 'cause I accidentally lit up one of my fireworks in the middle of chemistry," his younger brother said nonchalantly.

"Aiyah, Xiang, what have I said about not bringing those things to school aru! Well, at least you're honest about it. I hope you have learned your lesson. The next time I hear of an incident like this, and I will confiscate them aru!" Yao scolded.

"Yeah, yeah," Xiang rolled his eyes, picked up Qing Jing, and started throwing the delighted girl up into the air and catching her. "What's for dinner?"

"Don't do that, it's not safe!" Yao practically screeched, and intercepted. He then gently eased her into Xiang's arms. "No throwing the children, got it? I'll make some meat buns, can you and Au take care of the little ones?" Without waiting for an answer, Yao disappeared off into the kitchen. Xiang stared blankly at the children, sat down on the couch, and continued to throw Qing up into the air anyway.

* * *

Yao's hand trembled over the phone. _Come on, Wang Yao, pull yourself together! Don't let a nameless, faceless man scare you! _He thought.

But you've seen the things he is capable of…

He picked up the cordless phone and turned his face to the ceiling of his bedroom. Inside the wall, hidden quite well, was a tiny security camera.

_More like a stalker cam, _Yao thought bitterly. Locking his eyes on the camera, he pointed to the phone, indicating that he wanted to talk. Almost immediately, it started ringing. Yao's eyes quickly darted to the caller ID display out of habit, but, as always, there was absolutely nothing there.

"Hello?" he answered hesitantly.

"You wanted to talk to me?" the voice was well disguised, and practically androgynous.

"Yes," No point in beating around the bush here. "Earlier, when Romulus and I fought…"

"Oh yes, the camera. Rest assured, Yao, I will punish him for that. But look on the bright side!" the voice suddenly became cheerful. "Now he'll be easier to take down!"

Yao tried to ignore the lump in his throat. "Yes, er, thank you." He lied. "But… is that all? You won't…harm his grandchildren?"

"…They are not worth my time."

"I see…"

"Is that all, Yao?"

"…Why…are you doing this?" Yao managed to force out the question he so desperately wanted the answer to. "Why are you forcing us to do this? What could you possibly gain from watching us fight each other?" His voice lowered into a whisper. "Two have already died…now only three remain…"

That's when Yao realized he was talking to nothing, and that the mysterious voice had hung up a while ago.

* * *

"Ve…Grandpa Rome would never hurt Uncle Yao!" Feliciano said.

"I saw what I saw, Feli," Lovino insisted. "But like I said, it didn't seem like they were fighting of their own free will…"

"Eh?! D-do you think they're being controlled by aliens?!" Feli's voice went up a notch on the panic scale. Lovino rolled his eyes at his brother's childishness.

"Aliens don't fucking exist, dumbass. And plus, the old geezer comforted Yao after. I couldn't exactly hear what they said though…"

His twin turned to him, face full of worry. "What do you think we should do, Lovi?"

"Well, first off, don't tell Marcello. He's too young to worry about this kind of shit."

"Ok, I guess…"

"And two…er, we should, um…" Lovino trailed off. What _could _they do? Confront their grandfather about it? Follow him around twenty-four seven? Suddenly, Feli exclaimed,

"Oh! I know! We could eat some pas-"

"No."

"Ve…"

Lovino sighed deeply. "For now, I'll try to follow him around while he walks home from work or something. I hope that was just a one time thing, but…haven't you noticed he's covered with wounds when he comes home every night? Or that he limps sometimes and has to use the wall to steady himself?"

"I…have, but Grandpa is strong! He can take anything!"

"The old man is getting old, Feli, and I don't think he can handle much more. But don't fucking have a spaz over it, alright?" He added when he saw Feli's sad face. "Either way, I'm gonna find out the hell is going on, or my name isn't Lovino fucking Vargas."

"…"

"…"

"…But your name _isn't _Lovino Fucking Vargas. Your middle name is Roma-"

"Shut up, Feli. Just shut. Up."

* * *

That night, Lovino laid awake in bed, thinking. Feliciano had crawled into his bed again, so he could hear his soft breathing beside him.

After going through the few possibilities as to why his grandfather was doing this, he decided on the one that was the most plausible.

That the Italian mafia had caught up to them.

No, they had caught on to him. Him, Lovino Vargas. And his grandfather was carrying his burden.

"Fuck…" Lovino muttered, careful not to wake up Feli.

It made perfect sense. Lovino had stupidly gotten himself involved with the mob a while back in Italy, and Romulus decided to move into this town with hopes that the mafia would overlook such a tiny dot on the map. And now they've found him, but his grandfather probably offered his own services. Thus, he's probably being sent out to kill people for the mafia. And his next target is…

Lovino flipped over, burying his face into his pillow, trying not to shake to hard. _Dammit! _He thought angrily. _Why was I such an idiot?! Now everyone's getting tangled in my one stupid mistake. I should have never interfered with them! Dammit dammit dammit!_

Angry with himself and scared for his family, Lovino then quietly cried himself to sleep.

* * *

Bam. First Hetalia fanfiction. This story was inspired by the youtube video called "HeTaLia iNsaNiTY". Thank you, person whose username I cannot remember at the moment!

Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed reading this short (but sweet) chapter one. Heck, if you like it a lot, why not leave a review? It will make my day. :3

Pairings are undecided (other than the obvious ones like Gerita, Spamano, and Sufin. And no, USUK is not an 'obvious pairing'.) as of right now. I'm thinking I'll decide them based on how the story goes. Eh, but if you aren't gonna read it just because there isn't USUK (trust me, there won't be any), then you are an idiot. No, I'm not saying you're dumb for liking USUK, I'm saying you shouldn't judge a story by its pairings. If you want USUK, there's plenty of stories in the Hetalia fandom, but this isn't one of them.

Okay, my mini rant is over. Bagh.

Thanks for reading!

-NomSujet


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